The invention relates to a whistle construction which incorporates means for carrying items essential for enhanced personal safety, in an emergency situation, and particularly suitable for use by a child who may become lost when straying from his group, as in an overcrowded situation, or by a jogger who may be surprised by an attacker in the course of a jogging run through a public park.
The prior art includes various devices for personal security in an emergency situation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,474 discloses a portable device including an external key ring and featuring a whistle, a flashlight, and a gas-spraying device, intended as a deterrent to a would-be-rapist. U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,751 discloses a device for attachment to a handbag, for convenience of coin and token access, and incorporating a whistle, key retaining and other features, designed to foil a would-be purse-snatcher in a crowded situation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,568 discloses another whistle-combined device, particularly for security of a child, and incorporating a coin pocket and another chamber in a hollow oblong body. Other such devices appear from design patents No. Des. 167,301 and No. Des. 301,513.
And the prior art further includes patents (U.S. Pat. No. 944,744, U.S. Pat. No. 1,116,660, U.S. Pat. No. 2,013,027, U.S. Pat. No. 2,185,359, U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,651, U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,546, U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,648, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,512) disclosing various devices without a whistle, for coin retention, key retention, and personal-data identification.
The prior-art devices known to me fall short of providing the light-weight and convenience features which I regard as important in a personal-safety device of the character indicated, particularly for child or jogger or the like usage.